No way to catch up to live. Autogrant and heroci chars don't cut it.

LOL. You really are a hater aren't you. Not sure buffing folks daily makes me important but you are right it is a nice feeling to give back to the server.

But you did make me feel all warm and gooey to know you admire me so much you had to check out my website.

Just to clarify here. Have you been spying on me in RL for 19 years or do you value your worth in the world totally based on what you do in EQ? Luckily for me my self worth isn't based on your opinion of me. You now I do feel like I have accomplished a lot in EQ. Made a lot of friends and helped a lot of really nice folks. Thanks for encouraging me to reflect on that.

Oh Oh one of the things you would probably consider important would be me being in the top 10 paladins on my server in EQPlayers for a few years. Yeah I know just paladins but hey... gotta get my self worth where I can right?

Tell me what did you think of the graphics? I had the picture on the main page commissioned and am quite happy with it.

Thank you for the compliment. I agree. A minimum of 14 minutes a day (7 minute warnin, then 7 minutes of repeating buffs that cover all levels) seems like nothing. First couple days I did it were a breeze. Once it got to around 4 years so so trust me it gets tedious fast but people appreciate the buffs so I keep them going.

Definitely not an accomplishment based on the difficulty of buffs. But keeping them going day after day for years is sort of an accomplishment. Definitely not something I will write on my tombstone nor anything I would put on a resume . But yeah the fact I kept at it and all the tells and oocs I get from peeps appreciating it makes it feel like an accomplishment.

Oh wait. Do you consider helping others out as a positive thing? If you are a gimme gimme its all about you kind of person I can get why you might miss the accomplishment of doing something to help folks for a number of years. But maybe you are right and accomplishment is the wrong way to think of it. I guess I just like helping people.

P.S thanks for giving me something to do while the patch on.

I've not read the whole thread, leveling up is not as time consuming as one might think.

I've recently leveled up 2 chars from 93 a beast and a druid, admitidly I did box them, I am a very lazy boxer the druid does very little the beast does all the work and the 2 healer mercs keep the pet and the beast alive. The druid pretty much just stands around looking pretty.

I started in RoF, did the quests you get a good amount of exp from doing them also picked up a bit of gear from the odd named which poped.Once you hit 100 exp from RoF really drops off, time to move on!

I then started picking up the HAs from PoK and doing the dailys from there can get around 20 - 40% of a level doing those. Once I was able I started completing the quests and missions in CotF, I also started on TDS progression as some of the dailys were locked behind progression I hadn't done. The currency you get from doing these also helps improve your gear. If you can find a couple of friends start getting the heroic AAs from CotF onwards.

I did find once I hit level 106 exp really dropped off from HAs, AA seemed fine but exp was just horrible.

With the introduction of GMM, the hot zone gap up has been filled up to level 110. Anyone needing AA and levels 106 - 110 should really be here not only do you level fast but you also get some of the best gear in the group game for level 110.

The AA mountain is huge! But GMM is going to make it a lot easier to catch up. Just remember when you look at the number of AAs required to max out a lot of those you are not going to be using or give minor improvements, pick your AA lines wisely.

You are coming across as a person with issues. I hope the best for you.

The internet fora might not be the best place to find some peace and quiet, personally I like to chill out with a cup of tea and watch some woodworking videos, it is nice seing stuff being crafted.

I literally believe you're yearning for the glory days of EQ to return. News flash....never gonna happen. They're gone forever.

But we can move forward as long as possible. And that's precisely the strategy being executed by DBG. And they're doing it well.

Push away from the keyboard and take a walk. It sounds like you need it.

Doesn't matter whether the glory days come back or not, if it does it would be in Pantheon or some other game, not this one. My point is that this game has only ever focused on the top level people, kept them hooked, and ignored everyone else. There are consequences to this and they are plain to see for those of us not in denial.

If they were making a lot of money they would be producing content to sell and this game would be a lot more popular. Advertising for new people is pointless because new people wont want to play this game. It is too grindy, too boring, and has nobody to play with.

Graphics shouldn't matter, Minecraft is one of the most popular games in the world.

How delusional do you have to be to look at expansions like Kunark, Luclin, DoDH, or TSS and claim they only ever focused on the max level crowd?

Besides the unnecessary "moron" comment, there is just so much wrong in this post that I'm questioning whether you're trolling.

First off, the TBL chase items are nice to have - they are not "necessary" in order to raid. The same is true about the various "special" AAs. And in both cases these are things you can work on over time.

Second, there are absolutely guilds doing content prior to TBL. Ring of Valor does various EoK/RoS and older content as part of our casual raids, twice a week. There are other guilds working on RoS and/or just starting TBL. And you contradict yourself, because EoTD is meaningless for TBL, so it's either not needed if nobody is doing content that requires it, or it is needed but there are people doing the content.

Look through the Guild Recruitment forums. There are raid guilds looking for level 105 minimum, willing to work with an applicant to get progression done, get needed AAs, etc. How much lower do you want the bar?

You're right that many guilds need new blood, but in my experience most guilds are happy to help determined players that are willing to make the effort to get raid-ready. But you also need to be friendly and somebody that people want to help, not someone coming in with an entitled attitude who thinks everything should be handed to them.

If they did anything else the game wouldn't have died so hard and wouldn't have such a terrible newbie experience.

This is kind of a no-win situation. This game is complex. What's worse, posting comprehensive guides runs the risk of the "Eye of Sauron" so to speak becoming aware of player techniques and sabotaging them with patches. I'm not saying that dramatic phrasing is the intent, but it definitely happens.

Mobs see from just above their feet, and so do players for spell casting. Some spells go through walls, others don't. The difference between proximity aggro, direct aggro, assist aggro, and scripted aggro. The various status effects and how they stack and work. The multiplicative focus effects. The many dozens of activated AAs.

I've had bards come back to the game and ask me what to do, and I'm like a snapshot of 2.5 or so years ago when I started raiding with my cleric as a main out of necessity, and even then remembering what they changed and what is important leveling and such is hard, remembering off hand what advice to give things can easily be overlooked.

The players that catch returning players and nurture them up are heroes. Outright new players are a rare breed though.